Recent Publications

Social Action Convenes Regional Research Hub on Natural Resource Governance

Friday, 17 July 2015 00:00

Social Action has initiated efforts to create a regional research hub on resource governance. Working with institutions and researchers the hub will make research relevant to the social needs of Nigeria. Held on July 7, 2015 in Port Harcourt, a meeting of over twenty researchers and leaders of institutions agreed on the need to promote inter-institutional research collaboration.

Amended 2012 PIB: Opportunities and Limitation for the Environment and Development

Friday, 26 June 2015 15:55

First introduced in 2008, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is Nigerian government's effort to enact a single legislation to address the legal, fiscal and regulatory frameworks governing the oil and gas industry. Following controversies and uncertainties surrounding earlier versions, the executive arm of government introduced a revised PIB to the National Assembly in 2012. Following responses from interest groups including Social Action and other civil society and community groups that demanded for better provisions to address the impacts of oil and gas on local communities and the overall growth and development of the country, legislators have introduced some amendments to the Bill. This Briefing Paper by Social Action explores those amendments to determine strengths and makes recommendations to address areas of weakness. Download the full report...

Last Updated on Monday, 06 July 2015 10:30

Ogoni Communities Sacked By Oil Activities, Demand For Justice

Monday, 22 June 2015 15:20

Town hall meeting with Busuu and Bue-Leh communities

Many years after the evacuation of Busuu and Bue-Leh communities in Ogoniland of Rivers State due to oil-related problems which destroyed their sources of livelihoods, members of the communities are demanding for justice from Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), allegedly responsible for their sack from the communities.

Based on field investigations in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States, this report by Social Action presents the cases of illegal artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta as a more recent manifestation of the historical problem of oil theft in Nigeria, which includes the looting of public revenues from the petroleum industry. The report shows that oil theft and the artisanal refining that it enables, are twin threats to legitimate civic engagement, environmental sustainability, and the physical health and livelihoods of its operators and the people living in the Niger Delta communities. With billions of dollars in lost public revenues, crude oil theft adversely affects the socio-economic well-being of the majority of Nigerians who still live in poverty and destitution. The report highlights the need to improve the governance of natural resources and makes concrete recommendations for the government, civil society groups and affected communities. Click to view report

A new report released today highlights how forest dependent communities in Cross River State, southeast Nigeria, are losing rights and livelihoods, as their forests are being locked down by the government, which seeks cash through a United Nations backed 'carbon trading' scheme, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).

The report, '_Seeing REDD: Communities, Forests and Carbon trading in Nigeria_', by Nigerian organisation, Social Action, was presented today in Lima, Peru at an event at the People's Summit on Climate Change, which coincides with the 20th Conference of Parties (COP20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in the Peruvian capital city.

As the global environmental justice movement commemorates the state execution of writer and activist, Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni environmental and social justice campaigners who were killed on November 10, 1995, the Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action) has today released a new report, STILL POLLUTED: Monitoring Government and Shell’s Response to UNEP’s Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland. The report is a product of two years monitoring of the effort of the Nigerian government and oil companies to address the remediation of the environmentally-devastated Ogoniland through the implementation of the concrete recommendations in the report by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

Links

Social Action’s Budget Monitoring and Transparency project – The Niger Delta
Citizens Budget Platform has debuted a radio budget enlightenment programme to
bring to the fore issues of transparency, accountability as well as citizens
concerns on budgets and fiscal activities of the states and local governments of
the Niger delta.
Click to Listen To Editions